Course Content and Outcomes Guides (CCOG)

CCOG for PL 240 archive revision 202701

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Effective Term:
Winter 2027

Course Number:
PL 240
Course Title:
Environmental Law
Credit Hours:
3
Lecture Hours:
30
Lecture/Lab Hours:
0
Lab Hours:
0

Course Description

Provides a survey of substantive and procedural environmental laws and issues at the local, state, national, and international level with a focus on the environmental laws and issues most relevant to the Pacific Northwest. Explores federal, state and regional policies involving environmental law and issues, along with cutting edge developments. Explores the relationship between ethics, science, economics, and the law. Audit available.

Intended Outcomes for the course

Upon successful completion of the course students should be able to:

  1. Demonstrate the ability to apply federal, state and regional environmental laws to a set of facts. These laws include, but are not limited to the common law, Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, Superfund, land use and zoning, and water law.
  2. Describe the Constitutional provisions that provide the federal government with power to regulate on behalf of environmental quality, and set limits on federal and state regulatory power.
  3. Describe fundamentals of the history of pollution and environmental law and policy, and the economic, theoretical, and scientific basis for environmental regulation.
  4. Identify environmental issues and analyze current environmental legal trends.
  5. Describe climate change and its laws, and environmental justice.
  6. Identify basic international and administrative law, as relevant to environmental law.

Course Activities and Design

Flexible, dependent on needs of student population and preferred teaching style of instructor, but may include reading assignments; videos; lectures; guest speakers; small group projects and discussions; independent research; analysis of hypothetical problems; written reports; experiential learning; and student presentations.

Outcome Assessment Strategies

Flexible dependent on needs of student population and preferred teaching style of instructor, but may include: answering questions about the content, summarizing legal information, including case opinions and other documents, drafting formal documents and legal correspondence, small group projects, quizzes and examinations.